CREDIT: For the first time, Oscar® fans in Chicago will be able to hold an actual Oscar statuette and have their photo taken at the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences Meet the Oscars, Chicago. The one-of-a-kind exhibition will open Friday, February 13, at The Shops at North Bridge on Michigan Avenue, and run through Sunday, February 22, the night of the 81st Academy Awards® presentation. Hours are Monday through Friday from 10 a.m. to 7 p.m., and Sunday from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. Admission is free. Chicago is the only city to host a Meet the Oscars exhibition this year.

This year’s Academy Awards ceremony could look pretty interesting, at least when it comes to the Best Original Song segment. The Academy Of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences has unveiled its list of the 39 songs available for Best Original Song nominations, and it includes a few names familiar around these parts. The National are on the list, thanks to “Think You Can Wait,” their song from Win Win. Jónsi’s “Gathering Stories,” from We Bought A Zoo, is also up there, as is the Zooey Deschanel/M. Ward collaboration “So Long,” from Winnie The Pooh.

Chris Cornell’s Machine Gun Preacher song “The Keeper,” already up for a Golden Globe, also made the shortlist, and so did Flight Of The Concords’ Bret McKenzie, for two of his songs from The Muppets. Madonna, meanwhile, did not get shortlisted for her song “Masterpiece,” from the movie W.E., which she directed; I wouldn’t want to be her personal assistant this morning. Check out the full shortlist at Moviefone.